European Citizenship and Social Exclusion

This is the product of a European network on Social Exclusion and the Development of European Citizenship (SEDEC) involving 11 social research centres and individual researchers. The network has been running since 1994 and was initiated with the support of Sheffield University's Political Economy Research Centre (PERC) and the Department of Sociological Studies. The book is concerned with the contemporary dynamics and debates around Europe on "social exclusion" and "citizenship". The text deals with the two themes in a systematic way. The contributors see exclusion and citizenship as multi-dimensional processes, they analyze social exclusion into economic, welfare and cultural aspects involving concrete problems of unemployment, unequal access to social rights and ethnic discrimination respectively. These issues are related to contemporary debates about national as opposed to EU-level citizenship right and identities. The book aims to give a balanced review and assessment to the conditions and possibilities for progressive citizenship oriented social reform and social policy in Europe over the medium term, exploring the both positive and negative aspects of European integration.